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EMBEDDED WORLD 2023: SECURITY FOCUS
Hardware-Based Design Approach for

Smart-Home IoT Security

By Saumitra Jagdale

he internet of things has caused a The engineer’s challenge is to consider security and privacy
paradigm shift in the way devices requirements when designing smart-home systems.
communicate. Continuous monitor-
T ing and remote control of activities
that were previously performed manually has And the devices are often located in easily a series of devices to fit different markets
reduced human effort as well as human errors. accessible locations and therefore are vulner- according to requirements from different
The IoT-driven automation trend extends able to tampering. industries,” Crespo said. “While the core
to households. MarketsandMarkets is Conventional cryptographic solutions are device remains the same, customized security
forecasting European smart-home market implemented using secret keys that are allot- features are added based on smart-home
growth at a CAGR of 9.0% over five years, from ted to devices. It is assumed that these secret applications and industrial applications.”
US$26.7 billion in 2022 to US$41.2 billion keys are stored by the device and remain
by 2027 (bit.ly/3xcRnYS). To safeguard smart unknown to the attacker. But being in an HARDWARE ROOT OF TRUST
homes and their occupants from the poten- easily accessible location makes smart-home A hardware root of trust (RoT) is a physical,
tially hazardous consequences of a cyber or devices prone to physical attacks, side- immutable and tamperproof cryptographic
physical attack, security is a requirement in channel attacks, invasive and semi-invasive key that is burned into the silicon and verified
any IoT system for home use, especially for attacks and even viruses that can expose the every time a system is booted. These keys can-
authentication of the connected devices. key and lead to a security break. not be erased and are verified by the on-board
“There are multiple threats to individu- chip to ensure no malware is booted in place
SMART-HOME IoT SECURITY DESIGN als and industries in terms of security and of the BIOS or firmware.
CHALLENGES privacy: For individuals, the major threat A silicon-based hardware RoT can be
As the number of IoT devices continues to is [to] private data, and for industries and fixed-function or programmable. Fixed-
grow, the potential for cyberattacks increases. smart environments, the threat is the denial function RoT devices are compact state
Traditional computer systems and network of services,” Thierry Crespo, STM32 security machines that perform tasks like data
equipment have long been vulnerable to marketing manager at STMicroelectronics, encryption, certificate validation and key
cyberthreats, but now, everyday devices like said in an interview with EE Times Europe. management. Programmable RoT devices
home security cameras, door locks, thermo- “In smart-home systems, because all devices are built around the CPU and are more
stats and even appliances have become easy including smartphones are connected to the advanced than fixed-function solutions. The
targets for cyberattackers. internet, getting access to these devices has programmable hardware can accommodate
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK both security and privacy requirements into security and privacy of individuals.” new cryptographic algorithms and secure
more complex functions that can run entirely
become easier. This is a major threat to the
The challenge for engineers is to take
STMicroelectronics offers various protec-
applications to meet evolving attack vectors.
account when designing smart-home systems.
Because the fixed-function devices cannot be
Compounding the difficulty is that IoT sys-
tion measures under its STM32Trust strategy
tems in homes don’t have a lot of memory or
to enhance security in products based on
upgraded to adapt to newer threats, chip-
makers like STMicroelectronics are shifting
processing power, so high-end software-based
STM32 microcontrollers and microprocessors.
security systems cannot be deployed on them.
toward programmable RoT hardware.
“Today, under the STM32Trust, we provide
www.eetimes.eu | MARCH 2023